No ‘different’: Bosh treated Toronto like Carter, McGrady, and Stoudamire

Bosh, who left for the Heat earlier this month, responded to allegations made by Colangelo on Toronto radio station FAN 590 that claimed the All-Star was "checked out" late last season and chose not to play some of the Raptors’ final games.

"I play this game as hard as I can every time I step on the court," Bosh said. "On the back of my jersey it says ‘Bosh’ … The Boshes are hard workers. We have a lot of pride in what we do, in our jobs and in life."

"Everybody thinks, ‘Oh, he was gone as soon as the season was over,’ " he said. "It was the hardest decision I ever had to make. As different as another country is, it was still home for me. I had been there for seven years."

Bosh tried to clarify a few things in an interview with ESPN: he denied GM Bryan Colangelo’s claim he went Vince Carter on the Raptors and quit; he also denied accusations he was always going to leave as a free agent; and, most importantly, he swears nothing was meant by calling Toronto ‘different’.

The power forward told ESPN he, like Toronto, was ‘different’. How could that be bad, right?

Raptor-nation will agree Bosh is ‘different’. The tune he’s now singing is indeed ‘different’ than the mood and attitude he projected in late June and early July.

A month ago, Bosh – like a kid on Christmas Eve – couldn’t wait for free agency. He had no reservations, concerns, or second thoughts about ditching Toronto to join free agent buddies LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in a big American market.

For instance, his constant tweets, documentary film making aspirations, and regular television appearances with Wade and then James rubbed salt in a stinging wound for Raptor fans.

Only after his signing, only after the smoke had cleared and the backlash had begun, did Bosh reach out to the city that embraced him for seven years.

The most disappointing part is that Bosh was supposed to be ‘different’. He was supposed to be ‘different’ than superstars Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, and Damon Stoudamire, who crapped on Toronto when leaving.

In the end, Bosh wasn’t different’. Sure, his words were ‘different’ than the tone VC, T-Mac, and Stoudamire struck when exiting, but his actions were, unfortunately, the same.

Aren’t actions, not words, what really matter? Aren’t actions what people should be judged by?